Leaving the Right Kind of Legacy
Two Devastating Retirement Mistakes Can Be Avoided
Tech Tips: Five Ways Financial Advisors Can Leverage
LinkedInâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Recent Changes
Pearls: How Things Have Changed for Women in Finance

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The Register | May-June 2014

Register Round Up
IARFC Leaders and Financial Industry Experts were
asked for their insight and advice on issues facing
consultants in today’s economy.
Note: Responses are printed in no particular order.

Q: Are you teaching fiscal responsibility to children?

A: I encourage clients to buy stock for their children so they start
getting an investment mindset at a young age. This can have a
tremendous effect on a long term savings mentality. I also encourage
parents to have their kids take over payments on their own life
insurance plans to give them the responsibility. People take things
more seriously when they have some skin in the game.
Bryan S. Slovon, RFC®
Greenbelt, MD
A: Yes. Teaching fiscal responsibility to children is a significant part of
my life and work. First, and foremost, I set an example and tutor my
children. Second, I talk to local high school students on how to set
goals, plan their education, advance their career, manage cash flow,
save money and invest wisely. Third, I speak on financial planning
subjects to business students at the local college. It’s my opinion that
fiscal responsibility in the next generation is a mandate for the 21st
century financial advisor.
Chris Bryant, RFC®
Longview, WA
A: Through the Institute for Financial Education, we teach a 10 hour
course called Practical Money Management, which starts with basic
money concepts, including the proper use of credit cards, balancing a
checking account and risk management. Lifetime earnings are
explained for young people to understand the compounding effect of
savings and how they can reach their goals when planning is started
early. This course is available to the entire household and comes with
a workbook that can be kept for reference purposes.
Michelle Blair, RFC®
Smithtown, NY

?
You can also send us a short article for the Register or suggest
additional topics for future issues. Remember, our goal is to
make this magazine an even more valuable resource for you
and the clients you serve.

Journal of Personal Finance
Call for Papers
Get Involved: We welcome
the submission of articles
from IARFC practitioners. This
is a great way to contribute to
the profession.
Professional Articles: The
Journal is seeking articles by
practitioners that may deal
with the application of
financial planning techniques,
marketing and practice
management. These are
expected to be very high level
papers and/or articles.
Publicity Opportunities:
Naturally, we encourage published authors to advise their clients
and the media of their published articles by sending a media
release and copies.

The ideas and strategies you receive from this and other sections
of the Register may inspire you to send us your answer to one of our
future Register Round Up questions. If you would like to share your tips
and techniques with other RFCs, please do not hesitate to send in your
response to editor@iarfc.org. Our next issue will ask this question:
How does social media affect your practice?

From the EDITOR
On Friday March 7th, the IARFC held its Annual Board Meeting
here in Middletown, OH. Board Members in attendance were
Ed Morrow, Steve Bailey, Rosilyn Overton, Jon Rogers, Nick
Royer, Michelle Blair and Isabel Cooper. The staff associates
Amy Primeau, Charlotte Isbell, Susan Cappa and of course
myself were pleased to once again be part of the meeting
planning and presentation.
We were met with friendly faces. Steve Bailey – always ready to
listen to the day-to-day operations, Jon Rogers — bringing his
southern hospitality and tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation
(a staff favorite), Nick Royer — ready with a fresh look for our
marketing which we will take advantage of to develop a
Marketing plan, Rosilyn Overton — who brings to the meetings
new ideas and valuable suggestions especially regarding
academic issues, and Isabel Cooper — whom we met for the
first time and who did not hesitate to give her opinions and
weigh in on important topics. A new person on the Board this
year was Michelle Blair from Smithtown, NY. I appreciated her
willingness to help and attend meetings and look forward to
seeing her at the plan competition in Las Vegas.

Some extend free time
or a discount to IARFC
members. This listing
is not an endorsement or guarantee —
as RFCs are qualified to judge who can
help them in the areas where services
are most important. This roster is
alphabetical by last name.

The Board covered an extensive agenda including areas such as
financials, Board elections, committee assignments, marketing,
events and accreditation. Each time the Board meets, the
Association gains strength and commitment from these financial
professionals.

Les Anderson, outgoing IARFC President, who has been leading
the National Plan Competition Sponsorship program and Jon
Rogers, Treasurer, both rallied the Board for additional
sponsorship dollars for the 2014 Competition. You will notice in
listing of the Individual Sponsorship levels on the back cover,
most of the Board Members are now at Diamond level. Our
Corporate Sponsors also grew with the support of Les bringing in
another year’s support from Cetera Advisors and helping grow
the interest of the board. Jon Rogers added an additional
Corporate Sponsorship with Royal Alliance. Les has pushed the
door opened now the Board and the IARFC staff must continue
his efforts.

I am sharing a few photos we took during the Board meeting
on the following page. However, I invite you to visit the
IARFC Facebook page for the complete Album. We continue
to add photo albums of events and consumer oriented articles
to the IARFC Facebook page. Contact us for a direct link at
wendy@iarfc.org.

I wish that every reader of the Register
magazine could have joined us in March for
the semi-final judging live web presentations
of the National Financial Plan Competition.
This was conducted just before the Annual
Board Meeting of the association, which
enabled us to use the very talented and
experienced members of the IARFC Board
as judges.
How the Plan Competition Works.
The first step is the creation of a sample
case study. Every financial plan consists
of both hard data (financial facts) and
soft data (client attitudes, goals and
objectives). Since an important aspect
of the plan competition was evaluating
the ability of the students to enter all
of the data correctly, it was necessary
to prepare a plan here at the IARFC
headquarters. A few minor changes
were made and the case was ready for
distribution to the students.
This was primarily the work of David Stitt,
who has been involved in the production of
comprehensive financial plans for more
than 30 years. David prepared all of the
facts of the mythical Brewster family. In
order to be sure that all the necessary hard
data was provided, David actually entered
the data into the Plan Builder Financial
software that was used in the competition.
The software alerted the user when data
input appeared to be incomplete.
Any college or university in the US that
offered an undergraduate curriculum in
financial planning was eligible to participate
in the competition. From some schools
we had one or two teams. However, the
Plan Competition case was used in the
curriculum at Bowling Green State
University in northern Ohio and so we
had a substantial number of submissions
from their students. It was also adopted to
the curriculum used by the University of
North Texas.
Page 8

Nick Royer, RFC® IARFC Secretary
Go Teams Go

Some of the written plans were assembled
with a considerable attention to details,
while others omitted significant elements of
the data and objectives. We learned that it
was important not just to have the
information, but to make it available without
any need for further clarification. For
example, we listed the client’s objectives
and enumerated them as one through
seven. The students all assumed that the
numbers meant that the item receiving
number one was the highest priority when
in fact that was not our intent. Obviously
this is an element we need to improve for
the Plan Competition in 2015.
As each competition participant registered,
they were sent the software and the case
data electronically in the Fall of 2013. As an
additional teaching tool, the students were
invited to view 12 Plan Builder Academy
learning videos.

The physical plans had to be postmarked by
January 31, 2014. Several of the plans
were beautifully organized and well
packaged. Others were carelessly
assembled and obviously done in a last
minute rush. For example, one team
indicated they would charge the client a fee
of $5,000 — but the plan did not come
close to measuring what any reasonable
client would pay $5,000 to receive.
Students were requested to focus on
problem analysis. It was not sufficient to
say, “The Brewsters are a bit short on
insurance.” What we were looking for was
the amount and type of insurance the
participating team recommended.
Obviously this had to be consistent with all
the other recommendations.
The best 7 plans were identified, and the
teams were scheduled for web presentation
The Register | May-June 2014

on March 6 using the Go-to-Meeting
internet presentation tool.
Presentation Skills. We were very
impressed with the quality of delivery.
Naturally some were more poised, but others
had an incredible command of the case —
the facts, the problems and the solutions.
These were students ready to enter the world
as productive financial consultants.
Selection Process. The seven teams were
narrowed down to the best three,
representing Bowling Green State University
of Bowling Green Ohio, Shepherd University
of Shepherdstown West Virginia and Bryant
University of Smithfield Rhode Island.
Judges Involvement. The members of the
IARFC Board were very impressed with the
poise and passion of the students during
the half-hour presentations. It was tough for
them to be presenting to an unseen
audience. We had blanked out the judge’s
screens after each team was underway,
thinking that the judges would be a
distraction to the presenters. After the
judging sessions we realized that left them
staring at a blank screen, so in the future we
will allow the video to go both ways.
Everyone agreed, it was tough to pick the
best 3 teams.
Final Evaluation. This will be made in Las
Vegas on May 1, at the New York - New
York Hotel & Casino.

Sponsorship Assistance. This year we
received two $5,000 grants — one from
Cetera Associates, LLC and the other from
Royal Alliance. Each firm has followed the
contest closely. Next year we will need
more sponsors to handle an increase of
participants. Contact the IARFC for
Sponsorship Information. For information
on the 2015 National Plan Competition visit:
www.IARFC.org/FinancialPlanCompetition.
A Recruiting Opportunity. If you are looking
to expand your practice, or are looking for a
qualified successor — the person you are
seeking have been in Las Vegas or was
perhaps one of the earlier participants. Do
you want someone with strong analytical
ability to produce plans with speaking skills
that can help you with seminars? As an
Individual Sponsor at the Platinum Level
($250) or Diamond Level ($500), the
address list of all the students is available to
you electronically. 

On The Path to Accreditation
Exam
Welcome to the cusp of summer and the
edge of excitement; two excellent places to
find oneself when it comes to the world of
accreditation. As I write this article, and
gaze out upon a scene devoid of snow
(finally) I am eager for the flowers to bloom,
the birds to return from their vacation, and
for the time when I can share some good
news about the accreditation process being
undertaken by the IARFC.
Well, Mother Nature is responsible for two
out of three of those and we all know we
can’t mess with her. The last part, the good
news about accreditation part, falls into my
lap and I am thrilled to be able to deliver on
the promise. With the help of some very
talented and energetic people, we were
able to create a survey that reviewed the
various jobs and tasks that a financial
advisor does on a regular basis. This survey
is the foundation for the creation of the
examination that will be a part of the new
MRFC designation.
In February we released the survey to a
select list of professionals and asked them
to share with us their expertise on the
various subjects of the survey. They were
given a survey that provided extensive
reviews of many areas of financial services
that we at the IARFC feel are vital to creating
and maintaining a successful relationship
with a client. Our goal with this survey was
to examine the various parts of a planner’s
work and see how each part, when done
effectively, impacts the client. The results of
the survey will be used to help us create an
examination that will truly reflect the work of
an advisor who is ably working in the best
interest of their clients.
The good news is that we are making some
great progress on our path to accreditation.
We have come a long way since we began
this project almost one year ago. Many of
you have seen some of the changes that
have been implemented as part of this
project. These include some recent
changes to our CE requirements, the
clarification of our general membership
requirements, and other internal changes
to the day to day operations at the IARFC.
All of these changes were designed to
make our designations and our membership
benefits more valuable and to give our
Page 10

members an association of which they can
be very proud.
But, the progress has not stopped or even
slowed down. In May, we will bring
together a group of professionals and
educators to take the survey results and
start to write questions for the examination.
This is a true milestone for us as we get
closer and closer to completing our journey.
This group of men and women will gather
as a group to write and review questions
that directly relate to the survey results.
They will spend time learning the art of
writing examination questions and be
given the opportunity to review questions
written by others. For many of them this
will be an ongoing project and will require
some “homework”, but certainly nothing
with which their children would have to
help. Ultimately, this group of item writers
will create a pool of questions from
which we can create a psychometrically
defensible examination.
Our progress will continue through the
summer and with the help of our members
and the support of the entire staff of the
IARFC, we should be able to report on new
activities in the next edition of the Register.
Until then, please feel free to send me an
e-mail or give me a call with any questions

or comments about the accreditation
process. I truly appreciate hearing from
our members and being able to learn from
your experiences. Keep those cards and
letters coming. 

Jim Lifter, MBA, RFC®
Jim Lifter, MBA, RFC®, IARFC Education
Director, has an undergraduate degree
from Ohio State University in Marketing
and an MBA from the University of Dayton.
Jim is responsible for coordinating the
development and distribution of the IARFC
educational courses.
Contact: 800.532.9060 x 312
jim@iarfc.org
www.iarfc.org
The Register | May-June 2014

$75 Member-Refer-A-Member
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IARFC

®

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
REGISTERED FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS

$75 IARFC Member-Refer-A-Member

March 1, 2014 – June 30, 2014

The value of your RFC® designation continues to grow by increasing members of highly qualified advisors using and displaying the designation.
You can leverage this growth. Referring colleagues is rewarding with the Member-Refer-A-Member campaign. When you nominate these
professionals and they join the association, the IARFC will send you $75! That’s it. You do the easy part — provide us with all the contact
information. We do the hard part — follow through with them to show the benefits and advantages provided by the association.
Please print or type the information below.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
First Name
Middle Name
Last Name
Prefix:

Rules: Recruit new member — get
$75 back for each qualified nomination
who joins by the recruiting deadline,
June 30, 2014. There is no limit to the
number of individuals you may
nominate. When you refer these
professionals and they join the
association, the IARFC will send you
$75! Note: Members will not receive
credit for any person recruited in
previous years.
Campaign Dates: Begins: March 1,
2014 – Ends: June 30, 2014
Prize: $75 for each qualified
nomination that joins by the recruiting
deadline.
Member-Refer-A-Member $75 is not
available in conjunction with any other
referral campaign and applies to US
members only. By sending or
nominating referrals, you are granting
your permission to mention your
name as our source, and you will be
eligible for the reward.
International Assocation of
Regisered Financial Consultants — IARFC
Attn: Membership Services
P.O. Box 506
Middletown, OH 45042
E: info@IARFC.org
P: 800.532.9060
W: IARFC.org

Fax to: 513.424.5752

International Association of Registered Financial Consultants

Take Advantage of IARFC Member Benefits and Services
Publications

Practice Management Series

The Register — Membership
magazine that keeps you up-to-date
with current member matters and
industry developments.

Your Member Profile — IARFC.org has a very
sophisticated, and currently the best, profile
of all those in the financial services field.
A valuable credential!

Journal of Personal Finance —
Our academic journal edited
and printed for RFC members and
the profession.

IARFC E-News for Consultants — Weekly industry specific
information to you in an efficient manner. The content for the news
brief is pulled from over 14,500 sources which cover 150 countries
in 35 languages. The news brief gives you approximately 10 relevant
articles a week.

Information Request and Referral Cards
— Used to solicit other services to
prospects and clients.

Conferences and Learning

Personal Note Cards — With gold
RFC Key on front for use with clients
and prospect communications.

RFC Course – The Financial Planning Process™ —
A Financial Planning and Practice Management
curriculum for the Advisor who wishes to
prosper and achieve financial independence.

IARFC Logos — For business cards,
website and stationery.

Dear Don,
in me
confidence you have
I so appreciate the
ls. I met with the
and your many referra I know they are going
and
Martins this morning
e their
soon as I complet
As
clients.
fun
to be
review it
a call and we can
plan, I will give you
over lunch, my treat.
all your support,
Thanks again for
Katherine

IARFC Workshops — Marketing to Business Owners, Branding and
Drip Marketing. These very informative sessions are not just academic
classes, attendees receive practical tools to take home and apply.

For more information visit

www.IARFC.org

Why Do
You Do
What
You Do?
“The person without a purpose is like
a ship without a rudder.” — Thomas Carlyle
If you are looking for some motivation,
consider this: Organizations with a strong
sense of purpose perform far better than
those that don’t. A new study from research
firm Deloitte confirms it.
The survey, conducted in early spring 2013,
sampled 1,310 U.S. adults and found that
90% of people who believed their
organization had a strong sense of purpose
also reported a strong financial showing in
the business over the past year.
The primary benefit of clarity of purpose is
the discipline it provides to help resist the
temptation to chase bad ideas. Instead of
doing something just because everyone
else is, you can look at every opportunity or
challenge and ask yourself, “Does this
course of action align to our purpose? Does
this further our cause?” If it does, do it. If it
doesn’t, run.
There is no quicker path to mediocrity, or
outright failure, than trying to be everything
to everyone. It’s just not a winning strategy.
The Register | May-June 2014

You have to stand out. You have to strive to
be the best in your market at something.
Clearly defining your purpose helps make
that happen.
Business consultant, lecturer, and Good to
Great author, Jim Collins, calls purpose the
greatest “stop doing” list in the world. If an
activity doesn’t add value or align to your
stated purpose, stop doing it. Everything
must work together, and everything must
align to your purpose.
Finding your purpose is an important first
step, but it doesn’t end there. You have to
share your purpose with all stakeholders
both inside and outside your business. To
see the full benefit, weave your purpose
into all of your business communication.
Include it in your website, newsletters,
advertising, and email campaigns. Explain
the importance of your purpose, and how
all your business decisions roll up to it.
I really like how these successful companies
articulate their purposes so simply and clearly:

Google: “We organize the word’s
information and make it universally
accessible and useful.”
Southwest.com: “To connect people to
what’s important in their lives through
friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel.”
John Deere: “Helping farmers do a better
job feeding the world.”
As you can see, defining your business
purpose isn’t rocket science. It’s not as
difficult as you might think. You don’t need
to hire an expensive consultant. You won’t
have to climb to a Tibetan mountaintop for
divine inspiration. To get started, just ask
yourself these simple questions:
• W
hat are your core values? What
principles and philosophies are you not
willing to compromise on?
• W
hat can you realistically be the best at
in your market?
• W
hat do you have a passion for? What
activities in your practice energize you,
and make your day fly by?
• W
hy do you do what you do? After you
answer that question, ask why again and
again until you have done it five times,
Page 13

or are absolutely certain you have found
the underlying reasons for your current
actions. (Hint: It’s NOT for the money.
Money is the result of fulfilling your
company’s purpose.)

Suite
Software, Training and Support for Financial Advisors

Interactive, Real-time, Personal Financial Planning System

ho do you serve in your practice?
• W
Which clients or types of clients have
you been able to help most? What do
those people really need? What keeps
them up at night? What stands between
them and their goals and dreams?
Blend the answers to these questions
together to complete the following
sentence: Our company’s purpose is to
___________________
Most companies have no idea what their
purpose is. Be different. You have nothing to
lose, and everything to gain. Take action.
Define your business purpose, and
communicate it to all your stakeholders.
You might just be surprised at what
happens.
Don’t take my word for it. Take it from one
of the greatest personal success writers ever
to pick up a pen:
There is one quality that one must
possess to win, and that is definiteness
of purpose, the knowledge of what one
wants, and a burning desire to possess it.
— Napoleon Hill 

Paul Mallett, RFA, is Senior Vice-President
and Chief Operating Officer of Postema
Marketing Group, a nationally-recognized
independent marketing organization
providing product support and business
consulting services for independent
advisors. Paul is a regular blogger and
contributor to a variety of industry
publications and social media platforms.
Contact: 877.512.9287
pmallett@pmg1.com
www.pmg1.com
The Register | May-June 2014

Leaving the Right Kind of Legacy

Ray Bradbury, world famous science fiction
writer who died June 5, 2012, was well
known for inserting bits of his personal
philosophy into the dialogue of his novels.
In Fahrenheit 451, published in 1953, he
has one of the characters imparting this bit
of wisdom about leaving a legacy:
“Everyone must leave something behind
when he dies… Something your hand
touched some way so your soul has
somewhere to go when you die… It
doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you
change something from the way it was
before you touched it into something that’s
like you after you take your hands away.”
What a beautiful sentiment! It is only
natural for us to wish to leave behind
something of value for those we love, even
if it is no more than something for which
they will remember us. But, if we have the
means, how much better it would be to put
in place a provision that would enhance
their lives. We want to make sure that our
grandchildren have a college education. As
they grow older, we want them to be in a
position to own their own home and be
able to pay for it.
When it comes to setting up a legacy for
young people, doing it in such a way that
The Register | May-June 2014

they can’t blow the money out of youthful
exuberance is important. The touchy subject
of irresponsible children often comes up
when I meet with clients wishing to provide a
legacy for their children and grandchildren.

and beyond, (b) quadruple in value over
time and (c) avoid excessive taxation. They
were surprised to learn how much could be
accomplished for the long term good of
their loved ones, with just a little planning.

“We have four children,” began one couple.
“Three are responsible adults, and the
fourth, the youngest, can’t keep a quarter in
his pocket.” They told me that they only
wanted what was best for their children, and
they were worried that the youngest son
would squander it as soon as he received it.
“Are we wrong to think that way,” asked the
wife? It was a legitimate question. They
said they wished they could treat all of their
children alike and that they didn’t want to
hurt their son’s feelings.

Stretch IRAs

A major portion of their legacy assets was
contained in an IRA that the couple had
spent most of their lives building. I told
them that they were probably doing their
son a big favor by doing some extra
planning to protect their spendthrift son
from his own inclinations. I assured them
that they could set up their estate in such a
way that all would be well served. I showed
them how they could set up a spendthrift
trust with the one son in mind and “stretch”
the IRA so that (a) the value could transfer
to the children and then the grandchildren

Stretch IRAs are no secret, and they are not a
new type of IRA. It is simply a method of
transferring wealth that allows you to
“stretch” the proceeds from the account over
several future generations. Most IRA owners
know that tax law requires that individual
retirement account holders begin taking out
at least minimum amounts, known as
required minimum distributions, or RMDs,
from their accounts once they reach age 70
½. The amounts are based on the IRS life
expectancy table. It’s pretty obvious why the
IRS wants you to start drawing down these
accounts when you get older. After all, your
money sat in those accounts, tantalizingly out
of their reach while it accrued tax-deferred
earnings. If you are fortunate enough to
inherit someone else’s IRA, you will be
required to take minimum distributions each
year from the IRA account based on your life
expectancy figure — regardless of your age.
Here’s where the “stretch” comes in. At the
death of the owner, IRA accounts are
Page 15

passed on to the designated beneficiary.
Most IRA owners name their spouse as their
beneficiary and their children as contingent
beneficiaries. There’s nothing wrong with
that. But it might require the surviving
spouse to take more taxable income from
the IRA than he or she really needs. If
income needs are not an issue, then
naming younger beneficiaries, such as
grandchildren and great grandchildren,
allows you to stretch the value of the IRA
out over generations. Why? Because the
RMD for a youngster will be a fraction of
what it would be for an older person. The
proceeds are doled out in smaller amounts
for a longer period of time. This allows the
money to continue to grow, tax deferred.
The effects of compound, tax-free growth
are startling when you plug them into a
calculator.
It confounds me why more financial
planners aren’t aware of how to stretch an
IRA. All that is required is a little paperwork.
And yet, a blank look comes over the faces
of many a financial professional when you
ask them about it. Ed Slott, one of the
nation’s premier experts in the field of
stretch IRAs, makes the point that if we
don’t make an effort to take care of our
families in such a way, we will end up
leaving the majority of our inheritance to
Uncle Sam. There are many ways to avoid
paying more than your fair share of taxes
that are perfectly legal. In many cases, the
details of how to go about implementing
these strategies are contained in the IRS
code manuals.
Many love the concept of stretching their
IRAs strictly from a sentimental point of view.
“I get a little choked up thinking about my
great-granddaughter receiving a check each
year on her birthday when I’m long gone,”
said one client. The check would, of course,
be the RMD paid out of an IRA that the man
had started funding decades earlier.
Can you pass on the proceeds of your IRA
to your loved ones in the form of a lump
sum? Sure you can. But the beneficiary of
a lump sum will have a whopper of a tax bill
and, depending on his or her sense of thrift,
may have a challenge not to spend the
money irresponsibly. Setting up an income
legacy to heirs is growing in popularity for
obvious reasons.
Buying Life Insurance with the RMDs?
On one particular radio show, I asked the
caller to give the producer his number. I
wanted to call him back and calm him down
off the air. He had just turned 70 ½ and
discovered that he had no choice in the

Page 16

matter of taking his RMDs. To his way of
thinking, the government was forcing him to
take money out of an account that he had
set aside for his son. He was not super
wealthy, but he had plenty of income and
did not need the money from the RMDs.
“Are you healthy?” I asked him.
“As a horse,” he said.
“What if you took the RMD, which you don’t
need anyway, and used it to pay the
premiums on a life insurance policy on you,
with your son as beneficiary.”
The silence that ensued told me that the
gears in his mind were turning.
“Can I do that?” he said.
“All day long,” I replied.
The amount of life insurance he purchased
using that simple concept was $250,000.
The policy he purchased came with a
long-term care attachment. He was happy
as a clam.
Life insurance is viewed by some as merely
income replacement for a working family
member who dies prematurely. Perhaps
that’s all it was at one time, but in this
modern financial world, life insurance has
become an important cog in the works of
leaving a legacy. You can leave a tax-free
death benefit and set it up in a way that will
provide a yearly payment while the balance
continues to grow. Each time they get that
check, they will think of you. That’s leaving
a legacy. It’s all in the way you structure
your financial affairs.
It’s only natural that we want our children
and grandchildren to have a better life than
we did. I have talked to a lot of parents
who have seen their children through
college and watched them grow into adults
with successful financial lives. You can tell
by talking to them that their passion is not
so much to fatten the bank accounts of their
immediate children so much as it is to see
that their grandchildren are well cared for.
I want them to remember who grandma
and grandpa are,” one woman said.
When our grandchildren get older and
develop a greater capacity for understanding
just what kind of character their
grandparents and great-grandparents
possessed, then they too will have a sense
of legacy, and we will have contributed to it
more than we can know. They may need
our help in the world they inherit. It may be
that their hurdles will be a bit higher than
The Register | May-June 2014

ours, and their dreams not as achievable
without our help.

speaker was right. We do have a tendency
to put things off. It’s only human nature.
See, I just did it again!

Dividend Reinvestment Programs
Here’s an idea: Pre-fund a pension for your
grandchildren. Right now, you can start
putting money away that will give them a
lifetime income when they retire. You can
start a “drip plan” today and wait for some
milestone in their life to present it as a gift
for them. Dividend Reinvestment Programs
are an excellent way of doing this. Each
month, deduct $100 or $200 — some
predetermined amount — from your
checking account, and use it to buy shares
of stock in a company that produces
dividends. Each and every month, on the
same day of the month, the money coming
out of that account will buy whatever
number of shares that amount can buy that
day. If the stock price is down, it will buy
more shares. If the stock price is up, the
money will buy fewer shares. But dollar
cost averaging will see you through. You are
averaging your cost over the lifetime of the
program and plowing the gains back into it.
When the company issues dividends, you
buy more shares of the stock. It is an
excellent way to leave a legacy and teach
your children and grandchildren the value of
money and the principles of investing.
When I was in high school, I started one of
these programs using McDonalds and
Exxon. The little secret here is, you don’t
want the stock to do too well at first. You
want it to stay in business obviously, but you
want it to stay relatively low when you are
buying it. That way you can own more
shares. When you select a company that
you know will be around for a long time,
you will see the value of the company
increase as the years go by. Whether you
give the program as a legacy, or you use it
for your own retirement, you will eventually
have something that will fund the period
known as “reverse dollar cost averaging.”
That’s when you are selling shares of stock
as you withdraw cash from the account on
an incremental basis.
No Excuses
I once attended a seminar where the
motivational speaker issued this indictment
to the audience: “We are great inventors of
excuses. We are turning into a generation
of blamers and excuse makers. If we could
spend half the time actually doing the things
we are thinking up excuses for not doing, it
would be amazing how much we could
accomplish.” That put me to thinking. I ran
down the mental checklist of my own
procrastinations, and I had to admit that the
The Register | May-June 2014

“Roll up your sleeves and put your shoulder
to the wheel and your nose to the
grindstone,” he continued. “Make a plan
and stick to it. The only one you really have
to blame is the one whose thumbs are
pointing back at you when you put your
elbows up at 90 degree angles like this.”
He placed his arms in a position where his
thumbs were pointing back at himself. Then
he pointed his finger at the audience.
“Remember, when you point the finger at
someone else, there are three others
pointing back at you.”
“Make a plan and stick to it,” he had said.
Naturally, I thought of a financial plan,
although I don’t think that was necessarily
what he had in mind. I wondered how
many people were putting off getting on
track with a workable financial plan and
what excuses they might come up with for
their procrastination. According to the
speaker, most people will spend more time
planning their next vacation than they will
planning how they’ll spend the rest of their
lives. I think he’s right. It seems to be that
acting in our own behalf is sometimes the
most difficult act to perform. 

Truth is...

nothing
is more
constant
than
change.

Are you ready?
Master each phase of
your career. Check out
Commanding the Stage:
A Guide to Optimal Performance in Each Stage of an
Advisor’s Career, the latest
how-to guide created by
The Oechsli Institute and
Cetera Financial Group.
Visit us at cetera.com/change
to get your copy. Or call us at
888.410.9444.

Peter J. “Coach Pete” D’Arruda, CTC, RFC®
Peter J. “Coach Pete” D’Arruda, RFC®, CTC,
is a Financial and Tax Coach. He is host of
the nationally syndicated weekly radio show,
The Financial Safari, as well as the author
of four books, including Fine Print Fiasco,
Financial Safari, 7 Financial Baby Steps
and Have you been talking to Financial
Aliens? Themes of these easy readers
include helping others avoid being taken
advantage of and translating financial jargon
for any layperson.
Contact: 919.657.4201
pete@capitalfinancialusa.com
www.capitalfinancialusa.com

Bridging to Higher Sales
According to one study done by LIMRA
research:
1. There is a 35% client retention rate over
5 years with 1 product or service.
2. 2 products — 56% chance of retention
over 5 years.
3. 3 or more products –92% chance of
retention over 5 years.
The more products you have with the client,
the longer they will stay with you. Banks
know as they gain your checking account,
they are much closer to gaining your next
car loan and retirement accounts.
Hurt and Rescue
What is the best way to bridge your clients
into more products? First discover their
needs and then move them to other
products and services you offer. The
method you can use to create this initial
interest is a concept called “Hurt and
Rescue”.

John has a successful financial practice. He
has great relationships with all his clients.
But he is tired of lead cards and dinner
seminars and wants to find an easier way.
He wants to talk to his prospects and clients
about solutions to their retirement needs
but seems to always pitch an appointment
which rarely works.
Andre is very successful at selling life
insurance. But it has become harder to
make money. He would love to talk to his
past clients but doesn’t keep in contact
enough. He doesn’t want to seem like he
calls only to sell something.
Bridging is the answer
You have a client you would like to up sell to.
They have a need but don’t yet know it. You
Page 18

aren’t really sure how to approach them.
“Bridging” is the answer. Bridging is a set of
techniques you can use to sell or upgrade
clients from what they have to more of what
they need. This is particularly important
because not only will they buy from you
more quickly than a lead card, but there is a
high likelihood you will be able to retain them
as clients longer as they buy more products
and services. But why worry about up selling
when they have already done business with
you in the past? The biggest reason is to
keep your client over the long term. But it is
also easier to sell to a client than make a cold
call to a new one. According to one study,
only 17% of clients who bought financial
products bought again from their last rep.
The biggest reason for this loss of business is
the lack of a continuing personal relationship
with the client.

Listerine created a brand from the tag line,
“the taste you love to hate”. It tastes bad, so
you know it works. But the real hurt was to
make you worry about bad breath. If they
could do that, you would gargle Listerine
every morning. Listerine marketers at first
wanted to hurt and then rescue you from
the fate that causes friends and strangers
alike to flee from your presence.
Infomercials are on TV every day trying to
scare you into buying. They offer to rescue
you from stains and any other issue by
selling, “You have a problem” and then
close the sale with, “But wait, there’s more.”
For example, very few clients look for a way
to better manage their assets. Most don’t
look at their portfolio statements and don’t
know if it is even making any money.
Finally, when they hear of volatility in their
portfolios, they are shocked at the losses.
But that is often the first time they pay
attention.
The Register | May-June 2014

An example of hurt and rescue is to ask
questions creating a “hurt” or pain to grab
your prospect’s attention. These questions
are the start of the conversation.
For example:
1. Only 25% of Americans will be able to
retire without going back to work at 65.
Would it help if we could prevent that
from happening to you?
2. It is likely that the market will correct
another 15% in the next 12 months. If
we could ensure that you don’t lose
even a penny, would that be a benefit?
3. I noticed that you are paying more taxes
that you should as a retiree, would you
like to pay less?
As you ask these questions, your job is to let
them know how much of a problem (hurt)
their lack of knowledge creates and how
you can “rescue” them from those worries.
Here are 5 steps you can use to “Bridge”
your clients into an appointment and help
them solve their problems.

for this? What will you do”? “You will need
15 times your salary at retirement to live on
80% of your earnings. You only have
$50,000 saved right now. What plan do
you have in place to hit this goal?”
Search for needs

Book an appointment
After you ask the bridging question, try to
find out how worried the client is and how
much it bothers them. In many cases,
clients mistakenly think they are OK with
their financial plans. But they really haven’t
thought about the future enough to make
any plans at all.
Bridging works because it helps you uncover
needs your client may not have thought
about. I just bought a new Porsche 911s
through my company. My auto insurance
agent told me that if I had an accident, the
other party could sue my company also
because it owned the car. What plan did I
have in place to protect my company from
that risk? He then sold me a commercial
policy on my auto, double the price of a
personal auto policy.
Recap

and avoiding any more losses, would you
feel better about things? If we could
decrease your taxes, would that help you? If
we could help you retire without going back
to work, would that be something you
would like to look into?

This is arguably the most important part of
the process. As you listen to needs, you are
“hurt and rescuing” the whole time. But as
soon as you get 3 needs, recap everything
you heard in your prospect/ client’s own
words. The will either correct you or add
more needs. Either way, you are building a
case motivating them to find a solution.

When they say yes to your trial close, an
appointment is assured. If they say no, go
back and ask more questions, you haven’t
probed for needs well enough.
Your clients already trust you. You have
their attention when you want it. But it is up
to you to continually stay in contact and
help decrease risk, improve their lives and
then solve problems. One of our coaching
clients in South Carolina, has a tax practice.
He calls his clients every 3 months to check
up on them. In addition to his tax practice,
he also sells retirement planning. His
closing rate is 80% on every call. The
reason? He bridges them to a product he
creates a need for. Sure, he hurts and
rescues. But mostly, he listens. Your clients
would rather buy from you than anyone
else. Why force them into other
relationships. But even if you have no
clients and are trying to market to new
prospects, keep in contact, “Bridge,” and
listen. Your business will grow faster than
anything else you can do and your clients
will stay with you forever. 

4. Trial close
5. Book an appointmentt
Make an introductory statement
An example of this is to make a statement
that scares or gains the client’s attention.
“The average retirement account is only
$29,000”. “75% of seniors won’t be able to
retire without going back to work”. “You are
paying twice as much tax as you should”.
“You will need 15 times your salary at
retirement to maintain your lifestyle without
running out of money”. These are all
examples of introductory statements.
Ask a bridging question (search for needs)
These are questions used after the intro
statement that brings the concept home to
your prospect or client. You need to
personalize the hurt statement with a query.
“The market is already down 10% since this
time last year. It is likely that you will have
to go back to work or live on a substantially
less amount of money. Do you have a plan
The Register | May-June 2014

“So let me get this straight. You are
concerned about future market volatility,
increasing your retirement account returns
and avoiding losing any more money. Did I
get all that right?”
When they say yes, you can then move on
to the trial close for a solution.
Trial close
These are the money questions. This is
where you ask if they would benefit if you
could help them. If you can master this
stage, your closing rate will be nearly 100%.
No one will ever say no to you again.
Because you will never pitch a product
again. You will only find solutions. You will
only sell what prospects tell you they want
to buy.
Examples of trial closes are: If I could help
avoid running out of money during
retirement, would that help? If we could
work on avoiding future market volatility,
increasing your retirement portfolio returns

Kerry Johnson, MBA, Ph.D.
Kerry Johnson, MBA, Ph.D. is a best selling
author and frequent speaker at financial
planning and insurance conferences around
the world. Peak Performance Coaching (his
one-on-one coaching program) promises to
increase your business by 80% in 8 weeks.
Click on www.KerryJohnson.com/coaching
and take a free evaluation test to see if
coaching is right for you.
Contact: 800 883 8787
kerry@kerryjohnson.com
www.kerryjohnson.com
Page 19

Consumer Focus

How Your Life Changes
When You Have a Child
Children are a blessing. Once your first
child enters the world your life will never be
the same. Across many nationalities and
cultures, families have children when the
parents are quite young. Before the
1900’s infant mortality made the case for
large families. Children were sent out to
work and considered income streams
transitioning into retirement plans for the
parents. Life is much better today but
raising children requires considerable
financial planning. This is an area where
advisors can help by raising awareness.
The Finances of Raising a Child
In August 2013 CNN Money ran the story
“Average Cost to Raise a Kid - $240,080.”
(http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/14/pf/
cost-children/) The story was based on a
US Department of Agriculture report. It
looked at raising the child to age 18 and
did not include the cost of college! Expect
the number to be higher in major metro
areas and lower in rural states. The report
considered many costs including healthcare,
food and clothing. This may be
news to many young parents. Consider
a few expenses:
When your first child enters the world your
health insurance premiums will likely
reflect the difference. You have gone from
paying for husband and wife coverage to
family coverage.
Best outcome: Your employer pays all
health care expenses.
Likely outcome: If you work for a major
firm it’s likely your employer picks up part of
this expense, but you are still paying your
share. If you are self-employed this is an
expense you or your business assumes
entirely.
After maternity leave childcare will
become a budgeted expense because
it’s likely both parents are working. Daycare
is the obvious expense. Don’t forget baby
Page 20

sitters and others who look after children on
short notice.
Best outcome: You come from a large
family. Everyone pitches in to provide
childcare for everyone else. Possibly your
employer provides childcare as a benefit of
working at the firm.
Likely outcome: You will drop your child
off at daycare before work and pick them up
on the way home. A bill arrives monthly.
Housing becomes an issue: That one
bedroom apartment was just fine when you
were a couple. Now it’s too small. Do you
buy a bigger place? Do you continue
renting and find a larger apartment? If you
decide to move you are looking at an
additional set of expenses.
Ideal outcome: Your present home is large
enough after all. If you need a larger home
your parents and in-laws offer to help with
the down payment.
Likely outcome: You make due with your
current space for the time being and start
shopping for a larger one.
Clothing and furnishings are another
expense. The young family has probably
prepared a nursery at home. Family
members have bought the crib, stroller, car
seat, high chair and carriage. Children grow.
Clothing doesn’t.
Best outcome: Generous friends and
family supplied almost everything you need
at the expensive baby shower held earlier.
It took multiple cars to get all the loot home.
Alternatively you come from a large family
with lightly used strollers, car seats and
clothing other children have outgrown.
Likely outcome: You need to buy all this
stuff. Your child grows fast.
Providing the best opportunities in life
means getting a good primary and high

school education. This might involve
moving to a town or neighborhood
known for the quality of its public school
system. This quality is reflected in the
property tax bill supporting the school. In
metro markets a good education involves
private school starting at an early age.
Some schools are so exclusive parents put
their newborns on a list for eventual
admission years down the road. Some
parents might say early childhood education
isn’t a big issue. Many people feel
education is about establishing the right
foundation and building on it.
Best outcome: You already live in a
spectacular area where the public school is
run at private school standards supported by
an army of committed parents.
Likely outcome: Your educational
aspirations come with a price tag. Your child
might attend public school in their early
years then transition into a parochial or
private school afterwards.
College and advanced education follow.
Years ago a four-year college degree was
considered the ticket to success. Today
specialized jobs require advanced degrees.
Teachers often earn Masters. Physicians
and attorneys require graduate degrees.
Scientists often need doctorates.
Best outcome: Your child is brilliant or a
spectacular athlete. Scholarship dollars flow.
In other cases grants may be available.
Likely outcome: You shoulder the entire
cost. Today a private Ivy League school
might cost about $65,000 a year although
grants and scholarships can reduce the
number. In-state residents attending a
state-funded college might reduce costs to
about $18,000 today.
Marriage is an expense, especially
if you have a daughter. Many expenses
are traditionally paid by the bride’s
family although the groom doesn’t get
The Register | May-June 2014

away unscathed. Brides need
dresses. Grooms buy engagement
and wedding rings and pay for the
honeymoon. Often the bride’s family
pays for the wedding.
Best outcome: Your child marries into a
family who insist on absorbing all the costs.
Your child elopes.
Likely outcome: You will shoulder your
family’s share of the expenses.
These expenses are spread out over a
couple of decades. They don’t consider
scenarios such as children returning to the
nest. The Pew Research Center released a
report in 2012 indicating 36% of 18 to 31
year olds (Millenials) were living at home.
It’s also likely your newborn will have
children of their own someday. As new
grandparents you will want to help.
How Advisors Add Value
You know how you can help young parents.
They don’t. Start by raising their awareness.
Financial planning is the obvious toolkit.
Lots of these expenses seem to be in the
distant future, but inflation will drive the
costs even higher. Budgeting is a skill they
will need to learn along with addressing
unanticipated expenses. College savings is
the big ticket item. College savings plans
make sense, especially when relatives
commit to helping with expenses two
decades away. Setting up dedicated
accounts to gather those funds now makes
great sense. 

Bryce M. Sanders
Bryce M. Sanders is president of
Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. in
New Hope, PA. His book “Captivating
the Wealthy Investor” can be found on
Amazon.com.
Contact: 215.862.3607
brycesanders@msn.com
www.perceptivebusiness.com
The Register | May-June 2014

Page 21

Profile Interview

Molly McCarthy, RFC速

Seamless Transitions
Molly has been successfully partnering with clients to fulfill their dreams
in the financial industry for 9 years. Through hard work and dedication
she has worked her way through every position at LD Lowe Wealth
Advisory and has become the first female Lead Wealth Advisor in the
company. Molly is currently pursuing several advanced certifications
and continues to achieve her 40 hours of continuing education annually.
In her personal life, Molly and her husband recently welcomed a new
baby girl into their family. While motherhood and work have been a
challenge, Molly has made the transition look seamless. They like to
spend time teaching their daughter new things, playing with their rescue
dog Wrigley, and traveling back to Chicago to see family.

Life Changes Good and Bad
Our Editorial Theme for this issue is Life
Changes Good and Bad. Part of the
interview is asking questions about your
career path — and since you have just had a
baby, we would like to ask you questions on
your own personal recent life change and
how it helps you understand your client’s
situations.
Career Path

move forward. I knew this is where I was
meant to be.
How did you end up working with Lloyd
Lowe as an advisor?
Around 9 years ago I moved to Dallas, Texas
from Chicago. Believe it or not I actually
found an ad placed in the local newspaper
for an entry level financial position and
answered it.

What drew you to a financial services
career?

How does a younger advisor/professional
gain respect and attention of older, more
experienced clients?

Growing up as a middle child of 5 brothers
and sisters, I always felt the need to help
people. When I started in the financial
industry I was at an entry level position.
Once I realized how our planning work and
guidance really provides peace of mind to
clients and gives them the opportunities to

I have been able to gain respect and
acceptance from clients by the constant
support and encouragement from Lloyd
Lowe, the owner and founder of LD Lowe
Wealth Advisory. By having Lloyd personally
introduce me to our clients, providing them
details on my education and training, and

The Register | May-June 2014

supporting my decision, our clients have
rapidly accepted me and shown me respect.
Another way I have gained respect is
focusing on our ongoing philosophy, to
provide outstanding client service and
putting our client’s needs above my own.
When the client was able to see I was more
focused on them then myself, the trust and
respect fell right into place.
Have you stumbled along the way? How
did you overcome these struggles — give
examples?
Yes, I stumbled along the way. I have been
trying to complete additional training and
certification courses and have had failure
and roadblocks get in my way. Thanks to
the support of our office I have been able to
redirect my negative thoughts and energy. I
am currently focusing on the Chartered
Financial Consultant (ChFC) and have
passed 5 of the 9 exams to achieve
Page 23

certification. I also have achieved a Certified
Retirement Counselor (CRC) from Texas
Tech University sponsored by the
International Foundation for Retirement
Education (InFre).
What changes are you making to stay on
the cutting edge in your business?
Daily, I am reading and learning more
about market activities, studying white
papers, and attending professional training
conferences to engage myself in the
financial industry. I continue to attend
challenging continuing education courses
and study for the ChFC.
You have a degree in public relations.
How does that help you?
Wow, great question. I use my degree in
public relations every day. LD Lowe Wealth
Advisory is a high performance team
organized around 10 employees. With a
public relations background I am able to
review our materials with a different point of
view. Often how it is to be received by the
consumer instead of a financial advisor. It
has truly helped me become a wellrounded advisor and business entrepreneur.
What is your method of communication,
marketing. Phone? Web?
Appointments?
My preferred method of communication is
face-to-face. However, I also offer
communication through hosting webinars,
emails, phone calls. Through our client
survey performed by Julie Littlechild’s
Advisor Impact, we have been able to
determine our client’s preferred method of
communication is also face-to-face. As our
goal is to provide superior customer service,
we gladly provide this method of
communication most often.
What does your target client look like?
Our vision is to help clients build a bridge to
a secure financial future. My target client
would be someone who wants to receive
advice on their investments and guidance
on planning for the future, a client who has
had some life changing experience and
needs support to put the pieces back
together. With our team, we can provide an
exceptional one-on-one experience and give
back peace of mind to our clients.
Do you have any prospecting secrets to
share?
The best secret I have learned over the last
9 years in this industry is that your current
Page 24

clients are the best marketing tool you
have in your pocket. By communicating
and providing outstanding customer
service, in turn word of mouth from
existing clients will help direct new clients
to your practice.
What do you think most financial
advisors need to do, but generally don’t?

Proud parents Molly McCarthy
and Justin McCarthy with
baby Ainsley

In my opinion most financial advisors need
to have an uncommon commitment to
client service. I have found that this
produces the best results for a business, but
often people don’t take the time to truly
discover what the process is and how to
manage their own practice to achieve it. A
best example I have for uncommon
commitment is our office does NOT have
voicemail. Everyone, including myself, is
expected to grab that phone each time it
rings and assist the client on the line to the
best of their ability.
What are your goals (5 years)?
Over the next 5 years, my goals would be to
become a partial owner of LD Lowe Wealth
Advisory and create a detailed network of
referrals to bring in new clients.
How do you plan to reach these goals
and the next level of your career?
I plan to extend my network by being in
front of individuals regularly that I want to
do business with by offering my assistance
to them, providing support to their industry
where I can, and reminding them what we
do and how we do it best. As far as being a
partial owner my goal is to continue to learn
from Lloyd Lowe. Focusing attention on
how to manage the back end of business,
controlling costs, and expanding my
knowledge on what it means to be a
business owner.
How do you deal with continuing
education and giving back to the
industry?
I fully support continuing education. Being
a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC), 40
hours a year is a reasonable requirement.
By not only attending the annual IARFC
CE @ SEA™ event, I often attend monthly
luncheons and seminars that offer CE from
the National Association of Insurance and
Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and Women in
Financial Service (WIFS) and continuing to
educate myself with advanced certifications.
How did your interest in Red Cross
and American Diabetes Association
come about?

My sister-in-law is a type 1 diabetic; she was
diagnosed at an early age. Even though she
is on a constant insulin pump, she has not
allowed this to stop her from having a
family, being active in sports, and having a
normal life. I support ADA in honor of her.
My interest in the Red Cross came about
after hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast.
Seeing all those families displaced and in
need of assistance made me want to be a
part of something bigger. I have completed
my training and am a local Disaster Relief
Volunteer to help out in any time of need.
Life Changes
How has your recent life change affected
your work schedule, office environment
and work relations?
Recently I became a mother of the
sweetest little girl, and life has forever
changed. I manage to balance my work
schedule and relationships with the help
and support of my husband and everyone
at LD Lowe Wealth Advisory. I did take 3
months off for maternity leave and slowly
worked my way back into meeting with
clients and attending client events. I have
yet to begin traveling for work, but the
patience and family acceptance from the
office has really been a relief.
What parenting roles and responsibilities
do you and your spouse share?
The Register | May-June 2014

Molly McCarthy, RFC速

Gaining respect and acceptance from clients comes from constant
support and encouragement from Lloyd Lowe, the owner and
founder of LD Lowe Wealth Advisory. By having Lloyd personally
introduce me to our clients, providing them details on my education
and training, and supporting my decisions, our clients have rapidly
accepted me and shown me respect.
The Register | May-June 2014

My spouse and I share most of the
parenting roles and have worked out an
excellent system that works for us. He
gets our daughter up in the morning as I
get ready for work; we switch at
breakfast. We both take turns driving
and picking her up from daycare. At
night, he is in charge of bath time and I
am responsible for bedtime.
What are your most difficult
challenges since having a baby?

Is a monthly newsletter one of the
benefits you bring to the client
relationship? Do you write it
yourself? You have insights into
the markets and opinions about
the economy. Would your
newsletter also benefit from
lifestyle articles of interest to HNW
and UHNW clients?
For $395.00/year you have access
to an archive of articles with a new
article added every other week.
You can add your name to the
article if you choose. Topics
include:
• W
ine and Investing - What
Lessons Can We Learn?
• Can Happiness be Measured?
• You’ve Been Asked to Do
Charity Fundraising
More information:
214-862-3607
brycesanders@msn.com
perceptivebusiness.com/content/
to learn more about the program.
IARFC members receive a 20%
discount on their first year’s
subscription. Enter IARFC as the
discount code.

The most difficult challenge is having the
energy and free time to focus on
yourself. Some nights I find myself
asleep by 8:30pm when before I would
never miss a yoga class at the gym or
my husband and I would go out on a
weeknight for dinner and a movie. It
really has been frustrating adjusting
myself to reprioritize my energy.
What is the best part of being a
mom?
The best part of being a mom is seeing
that little girl’s face every day! Knowing
that she loves me unconditionally and
no matter what kind of day I have had
at the office one smile washes that
all away.
What financial changes to your
personal plan or portfolio have you
made after having a baby?
As a financial planner, I realize the
cost of education is forever increasing.
Immediately we opened a 529 college
savings plan for our daughter and
started contributing monthly. Since
she is so young instead of gifts, her
grandparents also contribute. My
husband and I are both full-time
professionals; we have had to add to
our budget the need for daycare.
How does this new perspective help
you understand the demands on
clients with families?
By having a family of my own, I now
realize how hard it is to say no to your
children. Often clients have financial
hardships and need to aid a child or
family member. Now I understand how
that client feels instead of pointing out
the reasons why this isn’t a good idea, I
turn my focus to pointing out how we
can achieve goals and run through
different scenarios for the future.
How do you get clients to budget for
good and bad life changes?

Page 26

As a planner, I am always planning
for worse-case scenario. I would
rather factor into a plan an additional
cost of $30,000 over the budget as
opposed to not accounting for it at all.
When something good comes along,
I focus on that as a prize and not
an expectation.
How do you help clients through life
changes when they happen?
Clients often go through life changes as
well; retirement, health, or family
changes. I like to position myself as a
sounding board for them to bounce
ideas off of and be there to answer any
questions they have. One of the most
recent changes was a client wanting to
establish a trust to care for her dog if
something were to happen to her. For
me, caring for a pet was not my top
priority but it was for our client. Together
we were able to brainstorm and come
up with a list of family and friends who
would care for the dog and open an
account just for his benefit to provide
support and care if anything were to
happen to our client.
What life changes are clients least
prepared for?
In our industry two life changes that I
find clients are not prepared for are
divorce and providing parenting to
grandchildren. LD Lowe Wealth Advisory
has developed an expertise in dealing
with complicated divorce financial
matters. As the first female planner in
our office, I am able to support Lloyd
Lowe and offer a female point of view
that a divorcee may be searching for
after going through this difficult life
change. As a team, we pride ourselves
on building a secure financial future
going forward and giving back peace of
mind during this time of change.
As our baby booming generation
gets older, sometimes they find
themselves providing full-time care
for their grandchildren. We have
several clients in this situation today.
The best advice and guidance we can
give them is to listen to what they have
to say and adjust their planning
accordingly. Sometimes things happen
in life we cannot predict and the best
we can do is try to turn those lemons
into lemonade. 
Contact: 972.335.2523
molly@ldloweplan.com
www.ldloweplan.com
The Register | May-June 2014

Two Devastating Retirement
Mistakes Can Be Avoided
In financial planning, people can be so
consumed with the “product” — as if there
is one magical program that is the silver
bullet and will save the world. For years
people have tried to find that silver bullet
that does it all, but let me tell you, it does
not exist.
People don’t want mutual funds; they want
the growth they can provide so they can live
the life that they want. People don’t want
CD’s; they want the safety they provide so
they can feel a little less stress in life.
Retirees don’t want annuities; they want the
dependable stream of lifetime income they
can provide to help protect against running
out of income during retirement. Do you
see the trend? People don’t want products.
Instead they want to live a confident lifestyle
where they are independent in control, and
have the choices to do what they want.
The products are the tools that people can
use to help them maintain their lifestyle
now and into the future, but the most
important part is not the product It’s how
that product will help them live their life
better. Each person’s financial toolbox
should be unique and have the right blend
of products to get them to and through
retirement. However, oftentimes people
focus so much on building up their nest egg
that they never focus on what to do when
they have built it up. More importantly, how
they are going to use their wealth smartly so
they don’t run out of money during
retirement. I mean, who really wants to
retire just to be forced back to work?
People want to retire and stay retired.
Have you ever heard of a Sherpa? These
are the guides that help people survive the
climb up and down Mt. Everest. However,
it’s not the climb that kills people brave
enough to go up Mt. Everest. It’s the climb
back down that gets most people. These
Sherpas help people successfully make it
back down the mountain so they can live to
tell their family and friends about it. Just like
in retirement, it’s not the years of working
and building your wealth that gets most
people; it’s the years in retirement and
mistakes made in those years that do the
The Register | May-June 2014

most damage. So people need a financial
guide who, like the Sherpa, can help them
navigate through retirement without falling
off the cliff.
After being in financial planning for over 14
years and working with my father who has
been in the financial world since 1965, I’ve
found that most retirees inadvertently make
two big mistakes. The sad thing is, these
mistakes are easily avoidable, but people
have not been educated on how to avoid
them. Let’s face it, we turn on CNBC and
hear about what? Growth. Then we turn
on Fox Business News and hear about
what? More Growth. I’m not saying growth
is bad; it’s definitely an important part of a
holistic financial plan. However, it’s just as
important to have a solid written
retirement income plan that can get
someone the income they need so they can
live the lifestyle that they want.
Retirement is one of the biggest life changes

a person will ever go through and shouldn’t
be taken lightly. Investing for retirement is
much different than investing while working.
It takes a different skill set and a different
set of tools.
For years people have been trained to
think that a good retirement income plan
is the 4% Rule. This is the rule that
states that you can take withdrawals of
4% per year from your investments in
retirement, and you’ll never run out of
money during retirement. Recent articles
and research have found this rule to be
completely incorrect.
I had my first meeting with a guy a few
months ago who retired with $1,000,000.
He thought he was financially set. After all,
he was a millionaire, right? He met with his
broker who told him that he could take out
$50,000 a year (a little higher than the 4%
Rule) and be fine keeping his portfolio the
Page 27

way he had it. He trusted him and retired.
Then 2008 came rolling around and within
a few months his portfolio went from
$1,000,000 down to $600,000. Then he
needed to take out his $50,000 to live his
lifestyle. So his account went down even
further. A few years later his account had
dwindled down to just under $500,000 and
he was only 72 years old. He realized that
if he kept taking his $50,000 withdrawals
that in only 10 years or so his money would
be gone. I asked him if he had a written
retirement income plan and he said, “What’s
that?” He was the victim of what is known
as Reverse Dollar Cost Averaging (RDCA).
This is one of the biggest retirement killers.
RDCA is what happens when your account
loses market value and you take money out
to live off of at the same time. This causes
the portfolio to accelerate it’s decline and
can lead to running out of money in
retirement. For example, let’s say the
portfolio goes down -30% and a person
takes out 4%, didn’t that portfolio just go
down -34%?

I suggest using a concept called Solving For
Income where you put enough money in an
income bucket that provides a guaranteed
retirement income, like a pension, of the
needed $2,000. For example, certain
annuities will provide a guaranteed income
for life, and they will tell you to the penny
exactly how much money a person needs to
invest to get the income they want. The
great thing is these guarantees are backed
by the claims paying ability of the insurance
company so it’s dependable income not
WHAT IF income. I’ve found that having a
dependable stream of income in retirement
that can last for both husband and wife can
give them much needed peace of mind.
They’ve worked hard all of their lives, the last
thing they want is to live in retirement being
stressed out. When a person knows that
they will receive a certain income check
each month, they feel more confident and
independent. Having a written income plan
using programs designed for income can
guide them through retirement like their very
own financial roadmap.

Mistake #1: Not Having A Written
Retirement Income Plan

Once enough money is invested in plans
that provide income, you can invest the
balance for growth to help build wealth and
offset for inflation. When it comes to
retirement, it is vital to fund the income
bucket first and then invest in growth.
Doing this in the wrong order can be a big
error.

Think about major businesses and
Fortune 500 companies. Don’t they
all have written business plans? Who
would think about starting a McDonald’s
with no written plan? Retirees need to
run their retirement years like a business,
and it needs to be written down. They
need to have a budget. I suggest having
each person do a family budget so they can
know without a shadow of a doubt what
they really are spending.
Then every source of income needs to be
optimized. This means looking at how to
maximize the income they are getting from
Social Security and their investments.
Would you believe that there are over
567 ways to file for Social Security? Picking
the wrong option could cost a retiree tens
of thousands of dollars in retirement. So
if you don’t know strategies to maximize
Social Security then I suggest you get
educated quickly.
The next step is developing a dependable
stream of retirement income using some of
the investable assets. Let’s say a John and
Jane need $6,000 a month to live the
lifestyle they want in retirement. Let’s also
assume that the maximum Social Security
benefit that John gets is $2,000 and Jane
gets $1,000 along with John’s $1,000
pension with no survivorship benefits.
That’s $4,000 of total income with an
income need of $6,000 per month. There
is an income gap of $2,000.
Page 28

that is ready to be turned on and pay
another income stream to help make up for
this loss? Kind of like Jane’s very own
emergency pension.
Not too long ago I had a millionaire who
realized that if he died, his wife would lose
over $3,000 a month of income. He knew
he had to protect her. Therefore, he took
some of his money and setup a plan that
provides her an income when he walks out
on life. All she has to do is activate this
income and another income stream to
make up for what was lost. He then took
the balance of his money and invested
for growth. But he only did this after he
set up his income plans first for him and
his wife while he was living and a backup
income plan for his wife if he died first.
That’s true planning.
You see, retirement is more than just
products; it’s about lifestyle planning —
making sure that people have the income
they need in retirement through all of its
stages. This type of planning may require
more work and time, but the rewards in
helping people retire and stay retired
is immeasurable. 

Mistake #2: Not Setting Up A Backup
Spousal Income Stream
We just got done talking about the income
needs when John and Jane retire. But one
glaring problem I see 90% of the time is
not having a backup plan for when one of
them walks out on life before the other.
The facts show that there will be a point
in time when one spouse is without the
other, and we must plan for this. Sure it
doesn’t make for interesting conversation,
but avoiding that conversation can be one of
the biggest landmines in retirement. Let’s
go back to my example above with John and
Jane. If John dies first (which is the most
likely case since men have a shorter life
expectancy…sorry guys) then Jane would
lose her Social Security income but keep
John’s benefit. Then she would lose his
pension. This would cause a $2,000 instant
income drop. That’s a 50% loss! But Jane
keeps the dependable retirement income
stream of $2,000 that they hopefully setup
as joint income. So if Jane needs $5,000 a
month to live on she is short $1,000.
Where is this going to come from? Well why
not fund another income plan while John is
alive that’s earmarked to protect Jane — one

Nicholas Royer, RFC®
Nicholas Royer, RFC® serves on the Board
of the IARFC and is the President of Group
10 Financial, LLC with offices in Orlando,
Cincinnati, and Peoria. Nick and his father
Jerry co-host their weekly radio show on
numerous radio stations. Nick also is a
regular financial commentator on NBC and
ABC news networks. Nick was nominated as
a Top Leader Under 40 Years Old and was
awarded the 5-Star Professional Wealth
Manager for 2014.
Contact: 800.245.0546
nickroyer@group10financial.com
www.group10financial.com
Investment Advisory Services offered by Brookstone
Capital Management, LLC, an SEC Registered
Investment Advisor
The Register | May-June 2014

Let Them Ask You
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a really good
prospect ask what you do for a living? Of
course it would! What are you doing to
cause that to happen?
Every week you are meeting with people
who could recommend your services to
their family, friends or business associates.
In some cases they would even be
recommending themselves as a prospect
for additional services that you offer. But it
doesn’t happen, or at least it doesn’t
happen often enough.
What can you do to stimulate someone to
ask you more about your occupation? If
you’ve been in the financial services
profession for more than a couple of years
you will be familiar with the term “Elevator
Speech.” This is what you will say when
someone inquires about your business.
They might say, “What do you do?” You
have a carefully prepared response
designed to invoke a positive response from
a qualified prospective client.
Think of yourself as if you are on an elevator
with another person (who looks like an
affluent prospect) when he or she makes
that opening statement, “What do you do?”
What do you say?”
One Registered Financial Consultant actually
had this event — on an elevator. His offices
were near the top of an 8 story office
building. He got on the elevator and was
followed by a man juggling a briefcase and
three cardboard boxes. He politely said,
“Here, let me help you” and relieved the
guy of two of the boxes. They rode up to
the top floor where the man got out and
was trying to figure out what to do with the
boxes. The RFC noticed that there was only
one business on that floor — an architectural
firm. He said, “I might as well carry them
inside for you” and they headed through
the door.
They laughed a bit about his serving as a
“mail carrier” and the architect asked,
looking at his gold RFC lapel key, “What do
you do when you’re not making deliveries?”
The consultant replied, “I head up a small
financial planning firm that guides
executives and business owners in
The Register | May-June 2014

preparing for a comfortable retirement”
That was his “Elevator Speech” The
architect then asked, “Could you help us
re-invest our retirement plan….everyone is
unhappy with the performance and the
service?” The consultant replied, “Sure. Tell
me about your firm? Do you design
residences or businesses?”
Other RFC members have reported that
wearing the gold lapel pin has invited that
critical inquiry about their services. The pin
attracts attention…
When you wear professional jewelry,
the idea is not for the benefit of your
client to recognize the symbol. They
might, but it isn’t likely. Since that person
is already a client, you probably won’t
stimulate more business. What you want
is a referral – and that can be worth many
thousands for you.
If you have placed the RFC Key on your plan
binders, your brochures, your letterhead and
business cards, they will recognize it. But
still, they might ask, “What is the special
significance of your gold pin?” This gives
you the opportunity to respond, “This RFC
key is awarded only to Registered Financial
Consultants … professionals in financial
services who meet seven high standards,
one of which is very extensive ongoing
professional education.”

Now if you were a business owner, or
had a dental practice, wouldn’t this get
your interest?
For persons who are already retired:
“We help retirees enjoy their final years by
eliminating worries about money.”
For persons not yet retired, but
seem to be enjoying a higher than
average income: “We help pre-retirees
to re-structure their holdings in order
to create multiple sources of tax free
income.”
Let the RFC gold lapel pin work for you,
by forming the habit of wearing it every
day. Every new business relationship
starts with an exchange of a few sentences,
and this is the least complex method of
getting results. 
Listen to Video Series at IARFC.org

We can promise you this — if you leave
your RFC lapel pin on your dresser, it will
never get you a referral. You have to wear
it. Do not expect immediate or dramatic
results. Just create a habit — affix the pin to
your coat and let it work for you. It might
take many months, but then, the payoff can
be substantial.
Write your Elevator Speech. In fact you may
need several versions. One RFC (who is
very secretive about his success techniques)
gave me his three unique responses:
For Business Owners and Professional
Practitioners: “We help business owners
with their succession and retirement
plans — and focus on eliminating all
liabilities using a special business debt
liquidation system.”

Ed Morrow, CLU, ChFC, RFC®
Ed Morrow is the Chairman and Chief
Executive of the IARFC and has been a
practicing financial advisor for forty years.
Visit IARFC.org and access this month’s
video, Life Changes Good & Bad.
Contact: 800.532.9060
info@iarfc.org
www.iarfc.org
Page 29

13 Winning
Traits of Super
Salespeople
We firmly believe that regardless of your
“field position” in life and your career now,
you can win from where you stand. Begin
today putting into practice these thirteen
winning traits of super salespeople.
1. Be and stay committed to goals. Know
what you want to achieve. Be totally
committed to that goal. View defeat as a
temporary thing.
2. Be and stay self-disciplined. Selfdiscipline is developed when you stop
doing what you know you should not do
and start doing what you know you should
— whether you like it or not. It is forming
the habit of doing the right things right. It is
having always a sense of urgency.
3. Be and stay knowledgeable.
Continually accumulate usable information.
It gives you a competitive edge. Have
the facts and figures ready before plunging
into an interview. Do your homework.
Question people who know. Be the
best-informed salesperson your prospects
ever meet. You’ll earn their respect and
gain their business.
4. Be and stay a relationship builder. Build
the trust level in all you do. Earn the
reputation of being 100 percent reliable.
5. Be and stay self-confident. Do this by
feeding your mind regularly just as you
feed your body. Confidence is not the
absence of fear, it is the conquest of fear.
Do the thing you’re afraid of and you’ll
develop the confident, winning feeling.
6. Be and stay enthusiastic. Generate an
excitement about what you are selling. It
will overcome many shortcomings.
7. Be and stay an assistant buyer.
Prospects are best convinced by reasons
they themselves discover. Once you
establish trust, then you can assist the
buyer in recognizing a need and acting
upon the solution. Prospects are
interested in discussing their business with
Page 30

Where conversation
IS documentation

Dr. William L. Moore, Sr.,
CLU, ChFC, RFC®

™

you only when you indicate by your
questions that you intend to show how
your proposal will benefit them.
8. Be and stay perceptive. Form the habit
of paying attention. Deliberately train your
eyes to see and your ears to hear.
9. Be and stay a skillful communicator.
You sell with words and expressions and
stories. Study all three carefully. You must
gain the prospect’s understanding and
understanding depends on what you say
and how you say it.
10. Be and stay a perfectionist. Demand
excellence of yourself. It attracts and builds
credibility. Don’t tolerate mediocrity. There’s
no room for compromise among
professionals.
11. Be and stay physically fit. This
develops the capacity to work hard and
long. Be a self-starter who displays a high
continuing level of drive.
12. Be and stay financially sound. Personal
budget-keeping is back in style. Get a
good handle on your living and business
expenses along with your anticipated
earnings.
13. Be and stay persistent. Always bounce
back. In selling, failure means very little if
success comes eventually. Resolve to
perform what you should; perform without
fail that which you resolve. Get up when
you fall down. If you get into the game
— stay in! 

Message on the Go™
We’ve developed a way
to properly utilize conversations
AS documentation.
Our suite of products are the tools
of choice for professionals
looking to implement effective,
innovative solutions.
The low-cost method to protect
yourself against ever increasing
chances of litigation.
Document your conversations
and client meetings with
Message on the Go™.

Bill Moore has more than 33 years of
experience in the financial services
industry. Bill began his insurance career in
1977 as an agent with Mutual of New York.
Moving into management, he integrated
the Kinders’ systems and concepts as an
Agency Builder for MONY.
Contact: 927.380.0747
wmoore@kbigroup.com
www.KBIGroup.com

Being a Client
First Fiduciary
People in the financial arena are held to a
higher level of standards, due to federal and
securities compliance policies put in place.
Be it internal or regulatory agencies, financial
professionals will have to be more explicit
with their clients on who they are as well as
what they do. For many advisors, answering
these particular questions is part of how
they introduce themselves. However, many
people claim to be financial professionals
but, are they? Start with what a financial
advisor is and what do they do.
We are all familiar with what we used to
call a stockbroker, whom we now refer to as
a financial advisor. First, we need to
understand how they are paid. Most of
these “professionals” are commission
based. They are paid by the transaction and
they focus on the sale which pays them the
most money. Why would they do
otherwise? They are also allowed to charge
an advisor “fee” on top of the mutual fund
commissions they receive. Many of these
commissions do not need to be disclosed
to the client. If they must be disclosed then
it is written in a way to minimize any
questions by the client. This, to me, creates
a huge conflict of interest, not to mention
the reliability of their advice.
When you think of the idea of a financial
advisor, it would stand to reason from a
client’s perspective that they would be able
to give advice on many financial topics.
One would think so, but I have found many
will not even look at a client’s tax return.
How can a “financial advisor” make good
financial recommendations if they cannot
take into consideration a client’s tax return?
At the end of the day, it’s not what you
make or how you make it, but what you
keep. Thus, taxes are crucial to the financial
equation. I do not think it is at all possible
to call one a true financial advisor, not to
mention a fiduciary, with all of these
constraints. But they are not alone, there is
a counterpart doing the same thing.
Insurance agents are acting in a similar
manner. When they give “financial” advice
regardless of the scope of content, they
The Register | May-June 2014

now are giving advice and yet are not
licensed as a financial advisor. In my
opinion this is simply breaking the law and
unethical. It seems to start with some of
these self-proclaimed guru’s or trainers who
feel the only kind of investments individuals
need can be solved with insurance.
Remember foremost, they are commissioned
based salesmen as well. Should an
insurance person have a prospect, they are
limited on how to solve the problem. The
insurance person now has to find a way for
insurance to be the solution usually through
the use of an annuity or life insurance policy.
The only tax advice they can inform a client
of really is an annuity being a tax deferred
vehicle. Should they suggest or even sell an
overfunded life insurance policy as a financial
tool, they must watch their language in
presenting the product. This must be done
in such a manner as not to sound like they
are giving tax or financial advice. Otherwise,
as we all know they are breaking the law.
Not to mention not serving the client in the
client’s best interest.

This new adviser with his new set of tools
can now solve their client’s problems and
their biggest challenges. With this new dual
toolbox a financial adviser can make sure
not only do they have proper exposure to
the market and safety but also take care of
issues like life insurance not only for the
family needs but tax needs as well. When
they help people get what they need, the
adviser gets what he/she needs — the
ability to be in business tomorrow. Now an
advisor is not restricted to commission only
approach but has residual income on his
side. Plus, pending on the tax capabilities of
the advisor, maybe another form of income.
As the marketplace evolves, not only do the
products change to meet new client
demands, but so must the advisor. The
advisor must adapt in order to meet the
higher expectations of a better informed
customer base. This new advisor must be
more fluent in not only financial and
insurance products but in the new tax era
we are now entering. By growing in this
new environment, everyone can now
emerge a true winner. 

Both Insurance and “financial advisors” have
major obstacles keeping them from being a
financial advisor in the truest meaning of
what they should do. Both are limited if not
barred from giving any tax advice. No client
of mine has ever had their tax or insurance
guy ask to consult with their tax professional
to make sure the product they have will give
the desired result. Lastly, neither would
recommend the others product as part of a
full financial plan since they would never be
compensated. So where is the happy
middle?
There is a new breed of advisor slowly
but surely starting to arise. This new advisor
takes away the limits of license. How are
they overcoming this obstacle? Simple, by
being dual licensed as a Financial and
Insurance person. Then they are starting
to work or partner with tax professionals
when it comes to working with their clients.
This new breed can now mix the right
solutions for a client without being
constrained by commissions.

Social media moves so fast that it’s not
surprising when small changes to each
platform go unnoticed by some users.
Because these changes are made solely to
increase the user experience, I think it’s
important to review the most significant
changes every now and then. Here are five
LinkedIn updates from the last few months
that you should take advantage of to boost
your financial firm’s online marketing efforts.
1. LinkedIn Publisher:
Linkedin Influencers (industry leaders) have
been able to publish content directly
through LinkedIn for a while, but as of
February, all 277 million active users are
now able to publish content on LinkedIn.
The change was made to encourage
LinkedIn users to view the platform as a
major news source. LinkedIn has been
rolling out this new feature to users over the
past several months.
Takeaway
Get active on LinkedIn. Not only is LinkedIn
a great place to find valuable content, it
allows you to position yourself as an expert
by publishing content. Do you have a blog
on your website but want more readers? Or
maybe you want to share your opinion on
an article you read? This new publishing
platform will give you the opportunity to
expand your content’s audience and
continue to position yourself as an industry
expert.
2. LinkedIn “Who Viewed Your Profile”
section:
This new feature is an incredible upgrade. It
allows you to categorize the people who
view your profile by profession, industry,
geographical location, or keyword searched.
This is a very new feature and LinkedIn is
rolling it out slowly, so it may not be
available on your profile yet
Page 32

Takeaway
There will be various ways to utilize this
new tool, but to start, use this tool to learn
which geographic locations people are
searching from and how they are searching
for you (keywords). Then you can adjust
these sections accordingly. Make sure your
profile is complete and optimized, as this
will help you appear more often on others’
profiles and will encourage them to connect
with you.
3. Linkedin “How You’re Connected” tool:
Another revamped feature from LinkedIn is
the “How You’re Connected” section. This is
a visual tool that explores your path to
connect with another LinkedIn member.
This will be very helpful in strategically
growing your connections and networking.
Takeaway
Make valuable, thoughtful connections. If
you are looking for an introduction to

someone you don’t know yet, you will now
see exactly how you are connected to this
person. Take advantage of this information,
and ask the closest connection that you do
know for a LinkedIn introduction.
4. LinkedIn Showcase pages:
Because many companies have various
facets and services, LinkedIn released
showcase pages in November. These pages
are extensions of your company’s main
page, allowing the business to easily
segment their multiple brand messages to
the right audiences.
Takeaway
If your business has multiple divisions
or locations, utilize these pages. For
example, your financial firm could have
one main company page with three
additional showcase pages: one for
estate planning, one for retirement planning
and one for financial planning. This will
provide followers with the most targeted
The Register | May-June 2014

information (the information that they
actually want).

Managing Partner(s) and Personal Producer

5. LinkedIn company page analytics:
As people are more and more focused on
measuring the ROI of social media, all social
networks are continually evolving their
analytic tools. In particular, LinkedIn has
added additional features that let you see
how your company updates are engaging,
as well as information about your follower
base, including demographics, referral
source and trends. ď&#x201A;Ş

Retiring owner seeks managing partner(s) to assume leadership of
well established firm. Many resources. Established clientele.
Marketing systems. Experienced staff. High payouts. Business alliances.

Amy Mcllwain
Amy McIlwain, President of Financial
Social Media Entrepreneur, author,
speaker, and worldwide connector, is
recognized internationally for radical
new ways of thinking about Social
Media, PR, marketing, advertising, and
customer service.
A former NCAA Division I Soccer player,
Amy started building and designing
Websites back in the late 1990s. She spent
the past 6 years in the financial industry
selling advertising space for the Senior
Market Advisor and consulting for insurance
companies on various media vehicles.
As the marketing landscape shifted
from traditional to Social Media, Amy
saw the increasing value of social networks
in their ability to connect with clients and
prospects. As a result, she launched
Financial Social Media in 2010 which
specifically address compliance issues
surrounding social media and the financial
industry. With her unique background
in both online marketing and financial
services Amy advises which media vehicles
work and the marketing language needed
to deliver results.
Visit: www.financialsocialmedia.com
Reprinted with Permission Producers Web
The Register | May-June 2014

The Design Capital

The Design Capital Planning Group, Inc.

HAVE YOU GOT ANY

SENSE?
SENSE ON CENTS
Just go to

www.SenseOnCents.com
and subscribe by clicking on
the e-mail subscription request.

The Cost Isâ&#x20AC;Ś No Cents!
Page 33

The Un-Comfort Zone
The Examined Life
“Hola!”
“Hola. ¿Qué tal?”
“Bien. ¿ Y tu?”
“Bien.”
Paul and I were sixteen years old and had
taken high school Spanish for a year. We
called each other every night on the phone
and spoke to each other in our new language.
More than anything we wanted to test our
skill with a real Spanish speaking person, but
we did not know any. Then we got the idea
to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant. For
two boys who had never dined out without
their parents, this was a big adventure. We
were so motivated that when we made
reservations, we asked to be seated with a
waiter who could not speak English.
What motivated us? Knowledge. We made
the same discovery that led Sir Francis
Bacon to make his famous quote in 1597,
“Knowledge is power.” We were
empowered by what we had learned, and it
gave us the confidence to take a risk we
would never have taken before.
By the end of dinner we found out we
didn’t know nearly as much as we thought
we did, but the important thing was that
our knowledge, albeit meager, moved us
to action.
It is the same reason that we find seminars
and lectures so motivating — because we
acquire new insights in a relatively brief
period of time that we can act on right
away. If the information is good, we can’t
wait to put it to work making our lives better
and our jobs easier.
Knowledge also motivates us because it
enables us to be more inventive. Many new
innovations are the result of two or more
existing ideas synthesized into a new one.
Creative thinkers regularly expose themselves
to new learning experiences, and to different
viewpoints. With each new experience, they
create new synapses — electrical connections
between the nerve cells — in their brains.
This gives them more data to draw from
when they are looking for solutions.
My son recently asked me why his school
required him to learn to play a musical
instrument. I explained to him that it was
stimulating parts of his brain he would not
have used otherwise. I told him that even if
Page 34

he chose not to continue playing the
instrument as an adult, that the knowledge he
acquired today may serve him in the future in
some way that is presently unknown to him.
Innovators are known for their ability to think
outside of the box, but more than anything
it is their broad-based knowledge that gives
them the courage to challenge accepted
beliefs. The most successful innovators are
those who make the acquisition of
knowledge part of their lifestyle.

my aid men who can answer any question I
desire to ask concerning the business to
which I am devoting most of my efforts.
Why should I clutter up my mind with
general knowledge.”
Seek out knowledge that empowers you,
and let it give you the confidence and
courage to be more and do more. 

Greek philosopher Socrates fully understood
that learning is a lifelong process. When he
was found guilty of teaching his students to
question authority, he was given a choice of
punishment: death or exile. He chose
death, stating, “The unexamined life is not
worth living,”
Knowledge, however, is more than just the
accumulation of information. It has to be
used, applied, and manipulated in some
fashion. Automobile manufacturing
innovator, Henry Ford, illustrated this point
during a civil trial in which he sued a Chicago
newspaper for libel. The paper had referred
to him as an “ignorant pacifist.” At the trial,
the defendant’s lawyer asked Ford a series
of questions designed to prove that he was
indeed ignorant. Questions such as “When
was the American Revolutionary War?” and
“How many soldiers did the British employ?”
Eventually Ford became irritated by the
questions and remarked, “I can summon to

Robert Evans Wilson, Jr
Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. is an author,
speaker/humorist, and innovation
consultant. He works with companies that
want to be more competitive and with
people who want to think like innovators.
Robert is also the author of the humorous
children’s book: The Annoying Ghost Kid.
Contact: 404.255.4924
robert@jumpstartyourmeeting.com
www.jumpstartyourmeeting.com
Reprinted with permission Robert Evans Wilson, Jr..
The Register | May-June 2014

Serving 30 Years
Pearls
IARFC
SERVING FINANCIAL ADVISORS
FOR 30 YEARS

How Things Have Changed for Women in Finance
When I first entered financial services in
1972, it was as an economist. I had just
finished a Master’s degree Summa Cum
Laude, and yet I got fewer job offers at
salaries that were less than half of what the
guys were getting. Finally, First National City
Bank (now Citibank) offered me a job that
was as much based on my writing ability as
my knowledge of economics. When I
started at Merrill Lynch a few years later, I
sent in my resume with only my initials so
that they would not know that it was a
woman applying. When I appeared at
140 Broadway for my appointment with
Human Resources, the secretary was
clearly upset that I was female. Even after
acing their brokerage simulation test, the
recruiter had a hard time getting the various
branch managers in New York to even
interview me.
Although there is still discrimination toward
women, it is much less pronounced today,
and young women starting out have a bright
new future in front of them. One of the key
differences is that young men are used to
working with women, of competing in
classes and sports, and their social lives are
much less couple-oriented than group
oriented. I see this because in addition to
owning a successful financial planning
practice in metropolitan New York City, I also
teach finance at a university. I still have
more young men as students than young
women, but the ratio is getting closer to
even. There are fewer objections to working
for a woman, and clients are more willing to
work with a woman as their advisor.
I still remember the time in the late 1970s
that I was “Broker of the Day,” which meant
that anyone who walked into the office (on
Park Avenue in New York City) and asked to
see a broker would be directed to me. This
was a coveted thing to be and was given as
The Register | May-June 2014

a reward. A prospective client came in,
was brought to my desk and introduced,
and I started chatting with him about what
kind of investments he wanted. I was
asking questions about his circumstances
as we were trained to do — the Know
Your Customer Rule — and after about
15 minutes or so, he asked me, “Excuse
me, but when do I get to see the broker?”
When I answered that I was the broker, he
sat there for a few minutes all quiet and
finally said, “I’m sure you are a very nice
girl, but I would prefer to meet with a
boy broker.”
Those were still the days of telephone
prospecting, and since we were in an
affluent area of Manhattan, I would call
people in the neighborhood, offering
municipal bonds. There was no such thing
as prospecting for integrated financial
planning. Municipal bonds were almost a
surefire way of getting people to talk to you,
since the top marginal Federal tax rate was
70%. All of us rookies (I was the only
woman in a 70 broker office.) would stay
after 5 pm to call people at home (we were
so popular!) and try to get appointments.
Two things would happen to me that did
not worry the guys. First, if I called and it
turned out that John Jones had a wife that
answered the telephone, there was instant
suspicion — “How do you know my
husband?” or if I got a man, there were
often questions of the “Where are you
located?” followed by “You have a cute
Southern accent.” (I’m originally from Texas.)
and then “Are you all by yourself there?
Maybe I should come over and protect
you.” Arghh!
Gradually, a few more women were hired.
The EEOC targeted the financial field, and
that got women some opportunities that
we otherwise would not have had. The

field of financial planning is now open for
women, and there are even people who
have learned to prefer women. After all, we
have had to work twice as hard to get half
as far. It is a source of great satisfaction
when I can help a young person get a job,
but there are certain young women with
whom I feel a special kinship. I know that
they will have a greater chance of success in
their careers because of those of us who
went before. 

Rosilyn H. Overton, Ph.D. CFP®, RFC®, CRPS
Rosilyn H. Overton, Ph.D. CFP®, RFC®,
CRPS is a Principal and shareholder in
Mid-Atlantic Securities, Inc, an Investment
Broker-Dealer and Registered Investment
Advisory Firm. She is also a tenured
Associate Professor and Director of
Graduate Finance Programs in Finance at
New Jersey City University. Nationally, she
serves on the Council on Education for the
CFP Board of Standards and internationally
is Vice President — Academic Affairs of
the IARFC.
Contact: 718.631.4000
roverton@masecurities.com
www.nyfinancial.com
Page 35

IARFC National
Financial Plan Competition
The National Financial Plan Competition brings both public and industry recognition to IARFC
members and incoming young professionals.
National Financial Plan Competition
participation is limited
to undergraduate students in financial planning
programs at US-based universities. Plans are
submitted by a single student, or teams of two or
three people. Every plan is based on case data provided by
IARFC. Finalist teams present their plans for Final judging and
award presentation is held in spring.

Sponsorship
The IARFC Plan Competition is partially supported by corporate
and individual sponsorships. Participation as a sponsor for the
IARFC Plan Competition is mutually beneficial and allows for
various levels of interaction with the students.

“It is refreshing and encouraging to witness the inheritors of
the financial planning industry. All submitted plans showed
hard work and the finalists were of outstanding quality and
detail. Those who will follow us are informed, intelligent,
innovative and industrious.” — veteran financial advisor
David Stitt on this past year’s competition.

Benefits
• A
ll announcements to the financial services media, IARFC members, financial planning educators and the
advisor community promote the sponsors.
• Sponsors are identified in articles in the IARFC Register magazine.
• S
ponsors are listed in the Journal of Personal Finance, which is distributed to Registered Financial
Consultants, faculty members, libraries and corporate officers.
• Sponsor brand gains valuable exposure among all the participating students.
• C
ontact information for participating students is provided to corporate sponsors for recruiting
or image building.

IARFC
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
REGISTERED FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS

www.IARFC.org

Fi na lis ts C om pe te —
B e P ar t of th e Ju dg in g
The IARFC has extended its invitation to students
to participate in the 2015 National Financial Plan
Competition. The finalists and their faculty advisor
will present their comprehensive financial plans to a
live audience. We invite the IARFC members to join
the competition and become part of the judging
process. Venue and Prize TBD
Expenses incurred by participating in the judging of the
Financial Plan Competition are not the responsibility of the IARFC.

Become a 2015 Sponsor
Sponsorship levels

Silver

Gold

Platinum

Diamond

Individual

$50

$100

$250

$500

Corporate

$1,000

$5,000

$7,500

$10,000

Unable to sponsor but interested in mentoring.

Why sponsor the
Financial Plan Competition?
All of us in any profession have an
inherent responsibility to continue the
legacies and skills of that profession.
To that end, the IARFC National
Financial Plan Competition, is a way
to get hands-on development of young people by
teaching them the skills necessary to provide the
services we currently give, to the next generations.
I believe that no person ever achieves success
without one hand up on the rung above him lifting
themselves — and one hand down lifting someone
else. Often we don’t have the time to personally go
do this. By pooling our assets we can encourage
the next generation to do the right things for their
clients.
Someday I will retire. I have clients who are younger
than me and I want someone to look after them as
I would have. It’s part of my responsibility to ensure
that there are capable people to advise them on
their asset requirements for the future.
Lester W. Anderson, MBA, RFC®

_________________________________________________________________
First Name
Last Name
_________________________________________________________________
Firm or B/D
_________________________________________________________________
Street Address
_________________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip Code
________________________________________________________________
Phone
_________________________________________________________________
E-mail

Register Vol 15 Issue 3

I wish that every reader of the Register magazine could have joined us in March for the semi-final judging live web presentations of the National Financial Plan Competition. This was conducted just before the Annual Board Meeting of the association, which enabled us to use the very talented and experienced members of the IARFC Board as judges. Don't miss this issue